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To Perceive or Not to Perceive the Creator

Much paper has been wasted by philosophers discussing the impossibility of comprehending the Creator. Judaism, as a doctrine founded on the personal experimentation of the Kabbalists, answers the question: How can we discourse on the possibility or impossibility of perceiving the Creator prior to perceiving Him?

Even for Spirituality, Habit Becomes Second Nature

Our bodies function automatically in accordance with the laws of their own egoistic nature and habit. If we constantly repeat to ourselves that we desire only spiritual ascent, then in the end we will desire it. The body, by virtue of these incessant exercises, will accept this desire as a natural one. It is often said that a habit becomes second nature.

One Soul Divided into Many Parts

The Creator completely controls the process of bringing this egoistical part – He separated from Himself in order to give it free choice – to unite with Him. But this control from the outside is imperceptible. The desire of the Creator manifests itself (with His own concealed help) in the desire to merge with Him that emanates from the depths of the egoistic part.

For the sake of simplifying this problem, the Creator has divided egoism into 600,000 parts. Each of these parts resolves the problem of rejecting egoism gradually, by slowly arriving at the realization that egoism is evil through the repetitive process of gaining egoistic qualities and suffering from them.

Each of the 600,000 parts of the soul is known as “the soul” of a human being. The period of merging with egoism is known as “the life” of a human being. A temporary break of the connection with egoism is known as “the existence” in higher, spiritual realms. The moment at which the soul gains egoistic qualities is known as “the birth” of a human being in our world.

Adapting to the Creator’s Spiritual Qualities

Each of these 600,000 parts of the collective soul must, after a series of fusions with egoism, nevertheless choose to unite with the Creator and to reject egoism, despite the fact that egoism is still within the soul while the soul is still [clothed] within a human body.

The gradual process of conforming to the Creator in qualities; the systematic approaching of the qualities of the soul to those of the Creator is known as “the spiritual ascent.” The spiritual ascent occurs along the levels or steps known as Sefirot.

In total, from the very first to the very last step of merging with the Creator, the spiritual ladder consists of 125 steps or Sefirot. Every 25 Sefirot constitutes a finished stage, known as a “world” or a “realm.” Thus, aside from our own state, which is known as “our world,” there are 5 worlds.

Our Inherent Instinctive Desire for Adhesion with the Creator

The goal of the egoistic part is to reach the qualities of the Creator while still existing in us, in this world, so that in spite of our egoism we can still perceive the Creator in everything around us and within us. The desire for unity is a natural desire within us all. It is a desire not influenced by any prerequisites or inferences; rather, it is a deep knowledge about the need to unite with the Creator.

In the Creator, this desire exists as a free wish, but in the creation, it acts as a natural abiding law. Since He created nature according to His own plan, every natural law represents His desire to see such an order in place. Therefore, all our “natural” instincts and desires emanate directly from the Creator, while inferences requiring calculations and prior knowledge are the fruits of our own actions.

If we wish to reach complete unity with the Creator, we must bring that desire to the level of instinctive knowledge, as if it had been received with our own nature from the Creator.

Efforts Made for Spirituality Accumulate over Time

The laws of spiritual desires are such that there is no place for incomplete or partial desires—those that allow room for doubt or for unrelated wishes. For this reason, the Creator heeds only the plea that emanates from our very Depths, and that corresponds with the complete desire of the spiritual vessel on the level at which we exist.

But the process of the birth of such a desire within our hearts occurs slowly and accumulates unknown to us, on a level higher than can be grasped by mere human intellect.

The Creator consolidates all the small prayers we make into one, and upon receiving the final plea for help of necessary magnitude, He helps us.

Similarly, when we enter the sphere of action of the Creator’s Light, we receive everything at once, because the Supreme Giver is eternal and does not make calculations based on time and the circulation of lives. For this reason even the lowest of the spiritual levels generates a complete sense of the eternal.

The Dynamic States of the Soul

But because we continue to experience a series of spiritual ascents and declines even after reaching the initial spiritual level, we exist in conditions such as the world, the year, the soul.

The dynamic soul, which did not yet complete its own correction, requires a place to move; this place is known as the “world.” The sum of all the soul’s motions is perceived as time, and is known as a “year.”

Even the lowest spiritual level generates the feeling of complete perfection to such a degree, that only through the individual’s faith above reason do we understand that elevating to the new state is nothing more than overcoming the “spiritual denial” of a higher spiritual level. Only by grasping this concept can one ascend even higher, to the spiritual level that one believed to exist and which one elevated above one’s own sense of perfection.

“The Process of Developing Spiritual Qualities” is based on the book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond by Dr. Michael Laitman.

From Despair We Turn to the Creator

At the beginning of our paths, we lack the capacity to perceive the Creator, since we have no altruistic qualities. Nonetheless, we begin to feel the existence of a supreme, omnipotent force governing the world, and we turn to this force in moments of utter despair. We do this instinctively.

We are given this special quality by the Creator so that, even in the face of anti-religious upbringing and outlook, we could begin to discover Him even from the state of absolute concealment.

Interpreting the Bible’s Story of Abraham and Sarah Correctly

It is told in the Bible that Abraham declared that Sarah was his sister, and not his wife, because he feared that he would be killed so that she could become available to others.

Since Kabbalah equates the entire world to one person, because the soul was divided into 600,000 parts only in order to simplify the attainment of the ultimate goal, Abraham is regarded as the personification of the faith within us.